Cultural Research On Cigarette Cards Of The Republic Of China

Cigarette cards, as a form of advertising, were popular in the Republic of China. They had been used on the cigarette packaging and spread to all around the world, playing the role of promoting and communicating. Cigarette cards’themes included all aspects of social life, and that’s why cigarette cards can be an historical record which could help us research the culture of the Republic of China.During the period of the Republic of China, social culture had very distinctive characteristics:drastic culture collisions between China and The West; a lot of famous scholars had emerged; people respected democracy and science; commercial culture had appeared and smoke culture had become part of mainstream culture These cultural characteristics of this period had a profound impact on the development of cigarette cards.The cigarette cards, serving as a recorder,function as cultural windows displaying the Republic of China’s culture. Through symbolic analysis and comparative study, I found that during the period of Republic of China, Eastern culture was in a weak position when competing with the Western culture; the women’s liberation movement had a limited effect and brought about some new problems; popular culture began to rise and was able to bring influences on elite culture; and the nationalism emotions were at an all-time high.The marketing of cigarette cards which combined distribution channels, promotional channels, business information and cultural information even in modern times, can afford modern tobacco companies valuable experiences.